1999:569 - DROGHEDA: Green Lanes, Louth

The proposed development site is on the north side of Green Lanes, towards its eastern end, in the parish of St Peter's in Moneymore townland. The street, which runs from Bolton Street (west) to Magdalene Street (east), was previously known as Irish Street and consisted of two alleys or rows of weavers' houses, demolished by the local corporation in 1970. The rows, said to have been erected by Alderman Chester in around 1774, were known as Chester's Buildings and consisted of a series of white-washed houses, each with an extra room to accommodate a loom and with thick walls to withstand the vibration when it was in operation. During the earlier 17th century the Dominican friary and St Peter's Church, both of which figure on Newcomen's map of 1657, had dominated this part of the town.

The site, formerly a gas shop and storage area, is 200m north-west of a recent archaeological assessment at 41 Magdalene Street (see No. 577, Excavations 1999). The site of a possible pottery kiln was uncovered through the recent discovery of vast quantities of 13th-century pottery from a site towards the western end of Green Lanes by Donald Murphy.

Assessment across the area of proposed development was carried out on 27 October 1999. Three trenches were excavated using a mini-digger with a 2ft bucket.

Trench 1 was along the northern end of the site, measuring 4m by 0.8m (west-east) and excavated to a maximum depth of 0.9m. Removal of rubble overburden mixed with brown soil to an average depth of 0.4m revealed a fairly mixed deposit comprising patches of orange clay, black humic soil (containing fragments of shell), broken stone and red brick, between 0.4m and 0.5m deep. Orange clay subsoil containing numerous angular and rounded stones lay at a depth of 0.8m below present ground level. The remains of a low north-south-aligned rubble foundation wall, containing red brick fragments, were revealed lying above the clay subsoil 2.2m into the site from the eastern perimeter wall. The wall survived to 0.8m wide and no more than 0.35m high, lying 0.4m below ground level, and was overlain by rubble overburden. It would appear to represent the remains of a partition wall.

Trench 2 was c. 5m south of Trench 1 towards the northern end of the site, measuring 4m by 0.8m (west-east) and excavated to a maximum depth of 0.8m. Removal of rubble overburden mixed with brown soil to an average depth of 0.55m revealed a fairly mixed deposit of redeposited orange subsoil, black humic soil (containing shell fragments), broken stone and brick, at most 0.3m deep. Orange clay subsoil containing numerous angular and rounded stones lay at a depth of between 0.7m and 0.8m below present ground level. Remains of a low, north-south-aligned deposit of stone rubble, mainly comprising large, rounded limestone boulders, was revealed lying above the clay subsoil at a location 2.5m into the site from the eastern perimeter wall. This comprised a rough structure, 1m wide and up to 0.4m high, which lay 0.17m below present ground level and was overlain by rubble. The structure appears to be a continuation of the rubble partition wall foundation uncovered in Trench 1.

Trench 3 was towards the southern end of the site, measuring 3.5m by 0.8m (west-east) and excavated to a maximum depth of 0.9m. Removal of a thin rubble overburden mixed with brown soil to an average depth of 0.25m revealed a fairly homogeneous deposit of light brown clay loam containing occasional fragments of red brick and broken stone, up to 0.6m deep. Orange clay subsoil containing numerous angular and rounded stones lay at the base of the trench, 0.85m below present ground level.

No archaeological features or finds were uncovered during the assessment.

15 Trinity Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth